Method for performing carrier management procedure in a multi-carrier supported wideband wireless communication system and apparatus for the same

Abstract

A method and apparatus performing carrier management in a broadband wireless communication system supporting multi-carrier (MC) are disclosed. A method for a single-carrier supported mobile station (MS) to perform a carrier change with a MC supported base station (BS) includes transmitting a message indicating a support of a basic MC mode in which the MS is aware of a MC operation of the BS, receiving a carrier management command message including an action code and an action time on a serving carrier, transmitting, in response to the carrier management command message, a confirmation message indicating readiness of signal transmission/reception through a target carrier on a target carrier, and receiving a control signal and data from the BS on the target carrier, wherein the serving carrier and the target carrier are controlled by a common Medium Access Control (MAC) of the BS.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for a single-carrier supported mobile station to perform a primary carrier change with a multi-carrier supported base station, the method comprising:
 transmitting a message indicating a support of a basic multi-carrier (MC) mode to the base station, 
 wherein the basic MC mode includes operating the mobile station only with a single carrier with the mobile station being aware of a multi-carrier operation of the base station and capable of supporting the primary carrier change; 
 receiving a carrier management command message including an action code and an action time, on a serving carrier of the base station, 
 wherein the action code indicates the primary carrier change, and the primary carrier change involves changing a primary carrier corresponding to the serving carrier for the mobile station to another carrier corresponding to a target carrier in the base station; 
 transmitting, in response to the carrier management command message, a confirmation message indicating readiness of signal transmission/reception through the target carrier of the base station, on the target carrier of the base station; and 
 receiving a control signal and data from the base station on the target carrier of the base station, 
 wherein the serving carrier and the target carrier are controlled by a single common Medium Access Control (MAC) of the base station. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the transmitting of the message indicating the support of the basic MC mode is performed when the mobile station performs initial network entry to the base station. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 disconnecting a signal path on the serving carrier at the action time, and switching to the target carrier. 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 3 ,
 wherein the confirmation message is one of a bandwidth request, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report, and a carrier management indication message corresponding to the action code. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a physical carrier indicator as an indicator of the target carrier. 
 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a dedicated CDMA ranging flag and a CDMA ranging code, and 
 the method for performing the carrier change further includes transmitting the CDMA ranging code on the target carrier of the base station at the action time. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a disconnection time, and 
 the method for performing the carrier change further includes disconnecting a signal path on the serving carrier at the disconnection time. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 disconnecting a signal path on the serving carrier prior to the action time, wherein the transmitting of the confirmation message is performed at the action time. 
 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a ranging indicator, and 
 wherein, if a value of the ranging indicator indicates that a periodic ranging is required, a periodic ranging procedure with the target carrier is performed. 
 
     
     
       10. A method for a multi-carrier supported base station to support a primary carrier change of a single-carrier supported mobile station, the method comprising:
 receiving a message indicating a support of a basic multi-carrier (MC) mode from the mobile station, 
 wherein the basic MC mode includes operating the mobile station only with a single carrier with the mobile station being aware of a multi-carrier operation of the base station and capable of supporting the primary carrier change; 
 transmitting a carrier management command message including an action code and an action time, to the mobile station on a serving carrier, 
 wherein the action code indicates the primary carrier change, and the primary carrier change involves changing a primary carrier corresponding to the serving carrier for the mobile station to another carrier corresponding to a target carrier in the base station; 
 receiving, in response to the carrier management command message, a confirmation message indicating readiness of signal transmission/reception through the target carrier from the mobile station on the target carrier; and 
 transmitting a control signal and data to the mobile station on the target carrier, 
 wherein the serving carrier and the target carrier are controlled by a single common Medium Access Control (MAC) of the base station. 
 
     
     
       11. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the receiving of the message indicating the support of the basic MC mode is performed when the mobile station performs initial network entry to the base station. 
 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 disconnecting a signal path on the serving carrier at the action time, and switching to the target carrier. 
 
     
     
       13. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the confirmation message is one of a bandwidth request, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report, and a carrier management indication message corresponding to the action code. 
 
     
     
       14. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a physical carrier indicator as an indicator of the target carrier. 
 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a dedicated CDMA ranging flag and a CDMA ranging code, and 
 wherein the CDMA ranging code is received from the mobile station on the target carrier at the action time. 
 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a disconnection time, and 
 wherein a signal path on the serving carrier is disconnected at the disconnection time. 
 
     
     
       17. The method according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 disconnecting a signal path on the serving carrier prior to the action time, and the confirmation message is received from the mobile station at the action time. 
 
     
     
       18. The method according to  claim 10 ,
 wherein the carrier management command message further includes a ranging indicator, and 
 wherein, if a value of the ranging indicator indicates that a periodic ranging is required, a periodic ranging procedure with the target carrier is performed. 
 
     
     
       19. A single-carrier supported mobile station for performing a primary carrier change with a multi-carrier supported base station, the mobile station comprising:
 a reception module; 
 a transmission module; and 
 a processor, 
 wherein the processor is configured to:
 control the transmission module to transmit a message indicating a support of a basic multi-carrier (MC) mode to the base station, 
 wherein the basic MC mode includes operating the mobile station only with a single carrier with the mobile station being aware of a multi-carrier operation of the base station and capable of supporting the primary carrier change, 
 control the reception module to receive a carrier management command message including an action code and an action time, on a serving carrier of the base station, 
 wherein the action code indicates the primary carrier change, and the primary carrier change involves changing a primary carrier corresponding to the serving carrier for the mobile station to another carrier corresponding to a target carrier in the base station, 
 control the transmission module to transmit, in response to the carrier management command message, a confirmation message indicating readiness of signal transmission/reception through the target carrier of the base station on the target carrier of the base station, and 
 control the reception module to receive a control signal and data from the base station on the target carrier of the base station, 
 wherein the serving carrier and the target carrier are controlled by a single common Medium Access Control (MAC) of the base station.